April 22, 2013

Bookmark Competition~ As you may remember from a previous email, Limitless Libraries is sponsoring a bookmark competition in honor of School Library Month.  I have the cardstock and will place it in your boxes.  If I did not include enough for your students let me know~I estimated class sizes:)

In each stack I have included a few of the direction cards.  I wasn't sure if you wanted to do it at school (after TCAP or field trips, etc) or if you wanted to send home for parents to do.  If you need more of the "direction" cards, let me know and I will get those to you.  Otherwise, you can put it on the overhead with the ladybug or have the students make a "mock" bookmark and use the cardstock for the final one.  However, you want to do it is fine as long as everything is included!

This is OPTIONAL!  Just a fun activity for the kids:)  One winner will be chosen from our to school send to the Nashville Public Library and they will choose the district winner.

All bookmarks are due this Friday!

Library Challenge~ The "12 Library Challenges" sheets are due this Friday.  Remember, this was OPTIONAL also!  Thank you for allowing your children to come to the library to work on it.  There are several 1st graders who are working madly to complete every challenge!  It has been fun to see their posters and such:) 

TCAP~ Beginning tomorrow, the library will be used for TCAP.  We will have several groups being tested in here.  I will be administering tests also.  Therefore, I will not be on my regular schedule. Please keep this in mind!  You may send students for birthday bookmarks and pencils immediately following WJPMS but no later than 8:15.  Thank you!

Tumble Books and Book Flix~ (2 of the library challenges) Both can be found at www.jonespaideiaes.mnps.org, then choose Library Media Center, then Limitless Libraries- Young Learners.  You can pull these up from your classrooms or any Jones computer.  You will not need usernames and passwords as long as you are in our building. 

November 7, 2012

I have a lot of news to share this month...Are you ready?!

Open Checkout- I will film the news at 8:10 each day.  Therefore, open checkout will occur from 8:35-9:00 and any other time you sign up.  Thank you for your flexibility!

WJPMS- We are still following the "Pledge" schedule.  However, we are one week behind.Williams is presenting this week, next week J. Coleman, Tate, Bell, Martin, Morris, Adkins, and repeat! 

It has been brought to my attention that several students have not been given the opportunity to present the news.  Please create a master list of your students assigning them each a day and place a star next to the best reader in the group. 
For example: 
Monday: *Superman, Batman, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman
Tuesday: * Flash, Hawk Girl, Aqua Man, and Captain America. 
Please send this list to me so I will know who should report the more complicated parts of the news and who to expect each day.  Thank you!

Play Aways- We have received 10 titles.  Only teachers may check these out at this time.  You can hook them up to your computer speakers so the entire group can listen to the story.

Book and CD Kits- At this time, I am only allowing first graders and teachers (any grade level) to check these out.  The students seem to LOVE checking them out!

Million Minutes Book Club- Several reading logs have been turned in!  We are now up to 453 minutes!  Please send the logs to the library as soon as you receive them.  I will add them up 1 time a week and change the board to reflect the additional minutes.

Pull Tabs- De'Nerra W. and Jayla B. accompanied me to the Ronald McDonald House to turn in our pull tabs.  We had a total of 30 pounds to donate and received a lovely thank you note.

Add to our Timeline- Please take a minute to check out and add to our new timeline in the library.  Unfortunately, students can not add their birthdays.  (Yes, a student has already asked!)  I would like it to reflect historical events and not personal celebrations!  

Jones Paideia Website- Let me know if you would like anything added to our website.  There are sections set aside for grade level resources.  Students and families can check this out by going to www.jonespaideiaes.mnps.org.  Also, check out our library catalog at www.youseemore.com/mnps- then select Jones ES from the school list.  I recently added a message regarding the Million Minutes Book Club too!

DEA- Next week the library will be closed for the Discovery Education Assessment.  I apologize for the inconvenience.

Win an iPad!  Don't forget to use your Limitless Library card.  You will automatically be entered to win an iPad!  Please take a minute to register your library card.

If you have any questions, please ask!

October 14, 2012

Welcome back! 
I hope everyone enjoyed their week off. I have a lot of news to share this month. If you have any questions, please ask!

Limitless Libraries
Each month we receive new books from Limitless Libraries. These titles are sent to us before they are released publicly! Here are the titles we received last week: The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan, Tales from a Not-So -Smart Miss Know-It-All by Rachel Renee Russell, Skippyjon Jones Cirque de Ole by Judith Schachner and Return to the Willows by Jacqueline Kelly. I will be adding them to our system this week!

Read20 Book of the Month-Crissy Haslam-Family Book Club
Darwen Arkwright and the Peregrine Pact by A.J. Hartley
http://www.tn.gov/firstlady/read20/

Capstone Interactive

Share with your students and families. This is a great resource for students to listen to and read stories online.  A link can be found on our Library Media web page also. We have been assigned a new username and password. 

Username: music274 

Password: city274

Library Title Requests

If you would like to see any specific titles added to our collection, please email me a list. I will begin sending those requests into our vendors. Thank you!

Books and CD Kits

They are almost ready! I have created "kits" that contain a paperback book and an audio copy of the book. The yellow "kits" are appropriate for K-2 students. They are available for a 1 night checkout period only! I will begin working on the 3rd and 4th grade kits as soon as possible. 

Million Minutes Book Club

Help us reach our goal of 1,000,000 minutes of reading before the school year ends! If every child reads 20 minutes a day we will accomplish it together. A flyer and reading log will be sent home this week. After each child finishes his/her reading log, send it to the library and I will record the number of minutes read and give the students a new log to take home. Students can read more than 20 minutes a day! Also, younger students can be read to by an adult.  There is a bulletin board in the hall outside of the playroom where students can monitor our group's progress! 

WJPMS

If you have any news that you would like to share, please let me know the day before you would like to see it on WJPMS.  My hope is that WJPMS will be an authentic source of news for our students. See you on Channel 3 at 8:05 each day!

Have a great week!

September 16, 2012

WJPMS will be brought to you by Mrs. Tate's 3rd grade students this week.  We will also have guests Monday morning who will bring us a very special song in honor of Constitution Day!  We hope you will tune in to Channel 3 at 8:05 AM.

Open Checkout is from 8:15-8:45 each day.  Please have your students bring their library cards with them.  It slows down the checkout process if I have to type in individual names.  Thank you!

Over the last 2 weeks the library has had limited availability due to our online DIBELS and DEA assessments.  Thank you for your understanding as we ventured into new territory.  It has been a growing experience for all as we determined how much time the library computers would be utilized while the other resources were limited.  Many classes took advantage of the open checkout each morning and I am thankful for your support in allowing the students to use that time to exchange books.  I will look forward to seeing you all in the library!

Limitless Libraries- I am pleased to announce that we will have an additional $3000 to spend on books this year as well as an additional $1250 to spend on play aways for our library!  This funding is coming from the Limitless Libraries partnership!  I will be meeting with the director of the Limitless Libraries program Tuesday morning regarding the process of spending this money. 

Educator Cards- Only a few people have requested an Educator Card.  I would strongly recommend that you complete the green application to receive a card.  This will allow you to reserve items and have them sent directly to you at Jones Paideia.  It can't get any better than that!  Let me know if you need another application.

World Book Encyclopedia- Don't forget to check out the Library Media-Reference Links on our website.  You have access to World Book Kids.  Some have expressed interest in having their students research particular topics.  Check out this link to help guide you: http://www.jonespaideiaes.mnps.org/Page52762.aspx

Check out this link to World Book Classroom.  It has a great section on Community Helpers under the "Know It" section:  http://www.worldbookonline.com/ewol/knowit/home?id=2

Our school is always collecting Box Tops as a PTO fund raiser and Pull Tabs for the Ronald McDonald House.  For every 10 box tops a student brings in, I will give them $1 in Honey Money.  Please send them to the library and I will turn them in to the PTO. 

August 19, 2012

Welcome to The Sharp Librarian blog! 

My goal is to keep you informed of library happenings and connected to resources that will be beneficial to you and your students.  This blog will be updated twice a month with important information regarding our Jones Paideia Magnet School Library.

WJPMS- our very own news program!  Turn your televisions to Channel 3 at 8:05 AM for the latest Jones Paideia News.  Ms. Morris's 4th graders will bring you the news this week.  Students who are celebrating birthdays will be invited to come down after the news to pick up a birthday bookmark and pencil.

Access the Jones Paideia Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC) at www.youseemore.com/mnps
You can access it from home, your classroom or your favorite coffee shop!
You will need to choose our library before searching the catalog.  If you see a title you would like to check out, send me an email and I will bring it to you:)

Library Orientations will begin this week!  Sign up to bring your class for a 45 minute period.  All students will be able to check out their first book of the year.  During our orientation we will discuss the rules and expectations of all library users.

Let's Collaborate!  I am interested in meeting with your team to design and implement some fantastic lessons.  Let me know when I can meet with you!  Kindergarten will operate on a fixed schedule (1 x week-same day and time) while all other grades will operate on a flexible schedule.  We can determine what works best for the project/lesson and your schedule. 

Last year we had 2 laptops donated for teacher use.  If you are interested in checking one out let me know!

Finally, thank you to everyone who has turned in their technology inventory forms and updated biographies.  I appreciate your help with both endeavors!

March 11, 2012

WJPMS News will be broadcast by Ms. Bell's 4th graders this week.  Due to unforseen circumstances, her students did not have as many opportunities to film the news last week.  Tune in to Channel 3 at 8:05 AM each day!


The Scholastic Book Fair is not over!  There is still time to order online.  Please remind your students that they can go to the address below and order the books they forgot to buy last week! The books will be sent to the school one week after our online fair closes. 

Scholastic Book Fair Online

February 27^th- March 18^th

If you would like to shop online go to www.scholastic.com/schoolbookfairs.

Choose:  Tennessee__Nashville__Jones Paideia Elementary Magnet

Students can create a wish list and send it to friends, family, out of state relatives, etc!

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who helped make our Scholastic Book Fair and Literacy Night a success.  I could not have done it without your help!  We had a great turnout and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves despite the rain and storms that came our way.  I will notify you of the financial results as soon as I am able to close out the financial records of the book fair.

Our guest author during Literacy Night was Mr. Fidell James of Village Books.  He provided an engaging session for our students and their families.  If you missed him Thursday night there is still time to order one of his books.  They are available at Barnes and Noble, Amazon, The Village Books.com or Orders@Xlibris.com.  Books are also available in eBook and Kindle form online:

Titles: "Amari's Story of the Arrogant Prince"
          "Ayana's Story of Dada and the Peacock"

You can also contact Mr. James directly at http://www.villagebooks.com/.  He is a local author and normally has books with him.  He is happy to autograph copies too! 

The Honey Money Store in the Library will re-open for business this week.  Students can use their honey money to buy new and used books, puzzle time, reading time, bookmarks, games with a friend, computer time, and more.  Prices start at $10.  Students may make purchases on Wednesday mornings at 8:45 AM.  Please make sure your students have honey money before they come to the library to shop!

March 4th, 2012

WJPMS News will be broadcasting from the book fair this week!  Due to the wicked weather Friday afternoon, we were unable to film the news for Monday morning.  I will share the news and birthdays over the intercom.  Ms. Bell's 4th graders will be our newscasters this week.

The Book Fair Luau will take place this week in the library!  I will open immediately following the morning news and will remain open all day.  Please send 1-2 students at a time.  It can get very busy especially between 8-9 AM.  If you would like to send students later in the day, that would be great!  I have volunteers helping each day but some have not shown up.  I am sending reminder emails out every night to the parents who returned the pink forms.

Our tax rate is 9.25% (cost of book x 1.0925= total)

Hours of the Book Fair
Monday, March 5th 8-2:30 PM
Tuesday, March 6th 8-5 PM
Wednesday, March 7th 8-2:30 PM
Thursday, March 8th 8-2:30/ 4-8 PM  Students may come out of uniform if they dress as their favorite book character or in HAWAIIAN ATTIRE!

I noticed several students on Friday were dressed up as book characters.  Please note, our opt out day is scheduled for this Thursday.  Students and staff may opt out of their uniform to dress as their favorite book character or in Hawaiian attire!

Literacy Night is Thursday, March 8th from 4-8 PM.  I am looking for 3 more teachers to lead a parent session.  We decided to combine our math and science event with literacy night.  Therefore, the sessions can also include those subject areas.  Please email me as soon as possible if you are willing.  We are trying to create the schedule of events brochure and need your help!

Thank you to everyone who has volunteered to help in the book fair!  There is still time to volunteer!  Send me an email if you would like to help! 

Shop Online

New this Year!

Scholastic Book Fair Online February 27^th- March 18^th

If you would like to shop online go to www.scholastic.com/schoolbookfairs.

Choose:  Tennessee__Nashville__Jones Paideia Elementary Magnet

Students can create a wish list and send it to friends, family, out of state relatives, etc!